U.S. soldiers could be contaminated with uranium [View All]

[seemslikeadream]

WASHINGTON (PL).—Around 20 soldiers from the New York National Guard have undergone medical checks on their return from Iraq to see if they have been contaminated with depleted uranium, a substance used by the Pentagon in its missiles.

According to the New York paper The Daily News, the decision to run the tests was made due to pressure from the newspaper after four soldiers from the 442nd Military Police Company tested positive in tests carried out at the end of their mission in occupied Iraq.

In recent months those troops have suffered from symptoms ranging from nausea to blood in their urine, very similar to those presented by the contaminated men; however the State Department has done nothing about it.

The daily affirmed that soldiers from the 442nd Company contacted by The News expressed their frustration at the way the Army had responded to their illnesses.

http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2004/abril/mar6/15uran-i.html


Returning GIs tested for exposure to depleted uranium in Iraq


The Associated Press

FORT DIX, N.J. (April 5, 2:39 pm ADT) - The U.S. Army is conducting medical tests on a handful of GIs who complained of illnesses after reported exposure to depleted uranium in Iraq.
Up to six soldiers from a National Guard unit based in Orangeburg, N.Y., have undergone exams at Fort Dix, and three of them remain there under observation, Fort Dix spokeswoman Carolee Nisbet said Monday.

"We are following up on this. We are on top of it. It's not something that has fallen by the wayside," she said.

Of nine members of the unit examined by a doctor at the request of the New York Daily News, four had "almost certainly" inhaled radioactive dust from spent U.S. artillery shells containing depleted uranium, the newspaper reported Monday.


Depleted uranium, which is left over from the process of enriching uranium for use as nuclear fuel, is an extremely dense material that the U.S. and British militaries use for tank armor and armor-piercing weapons. It is far less radioactive than natural uranium.

According to a Depleted Uranium Information Web page posted by the Army, depleted uranium recently provided to the Pentagon by the U.S. Department of Energy contained trace amounts of contaminants like neptunium, plutonium, americium, technitium-99 and uranium-236.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-3944801,00.html